Cleco Power LLC has fired up Rodemacher 3, its new coal and petroleum coke electricity generating unit, and plans to put it into commercial operation early next year.
The Pineville utility, which provides power in St. Tammany Parish, has been working on the $1 billion addition to an existing power plant north of Alexandria since April 2006 to diversify its fuel sources and lower customer bills.
Cleco traditionally has the highest fuel adjustment charges in the New Orleans area because it relies heavily on natural gas, so it added a third unit its Rodemacher plant to coal and petroleum coke, a refinery byproduct that is abundant and cheap in Louisiana.
The trade-off is clean air; while the plant has been built with the latest technology, burning coal and petroleum coke isn't as clean as burning natural gas.
So far, Louisiana refineries have shipped about 400,000 tons of petroleum coke to the site.
Cleco customers will begin paying for Rodemacher 3 as soon as it begins commercial operation, but the company says that overall bills will go down about three percent because of declines in fuel adjustment charges.
Source: NOLA.com
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